Bent has received no explanation from his manager over his omission and is determined to remain professional during his exile. The 28 year-old also has no intention of handing in a transfer request.

But while Lambert has constantly reiterated that he has no problem with the England international, Bent is almost certain to be made available to other clubs when trading resumes in January. The latest development regarding his alleged injury effectively means he has been left out of Lambert’s first-team plans for four matches in a row.

Redknapp, QPR’s new manager, fell out with Bent at Tottenham Hotspur after claiming his wife Sandra would have scored one of the chances the forward wasted against Portsmouth, but is preparing an approach.

He said: “I’ve got no problems with Darren as a boy or as a player, he’s a good player and can score goals. I just made a comment that maybe I shouldn’t have made.

"I said my missus would have scored that when he missed a header that day, he didn’t like it and within no time he had decided he didn’t want to stay. We’re short of front players.”

There is no interest in from Liverpool, however, as Bent does not fit the profile for Brendan Rodgers, who is focusing his efforts on signing Daniel Sturridge from Chelsea.

But Bent’s reputation remains high after scoring 102 Premier League goals at a rate of one every two games.

Randy Lerner, the Villa chairman, would surely have to accept a significant loss if he does agree to sell Bent. Villa would want more than £10 million for a player with more than two years left on his £65,000-a-week contract but risk his sell-on value dropping if he is not even in Lambert’s first-team plans.

Bent’s latest snub came on Tuesday night two hours before the Reading game, when he arrived at the ground to be informed he was not in the squad.

Jordan Bowery, who was playing his football in League Two with Chesterfield at the start of the season, was again named ahead of him on the bench.

Bent watched the game from his executive box in the Trinity Road Stand and even shook hands with his team-mates and wished them luck in the dressing room before kick-off.

Christian Benteke, the £7 million signing from Genk, seemed to vindicate Lambert’s decision by scoring the only goal of the game ten minutes from time, but the debate over Bent is unlikely to go away.

Two years ago Lerner branded Bent ‘The Mailman’ because he always delivers – but his most lavish signing is certain to be operating in a different postcode next year.